43 civil society institutions in Syria signed a joint statement expressing deep concerns over the propagation of the novel coronavirus COVID-19 in Syria’s state-run penal complexes.
The statement urged the Syrian government to immediately release all political prisoners and halt its arrest sweep to prevent further contaminations.
The NGOs called on all warring parties to take urgent measures in order to allow the entry of international humanitarian and health delegations into all detention centers in line with international precautionary measures taken to respond to the deadly pandemic and human rights conventions stating that prisoners should have access to health care services.
The statement urged the UN Special Envoy and UN bodies to immediately step in and pressurize the Syrian government to release all political and human rights captives held behind prison bars.
The groups further appealed to the International Red Cross Committee and the World Health Organization to work on enhancing health conditions in detention centers, send medical delegations, and secure prisoners’ access to hygiene kit and medicines.
Earlier this week, AGPS has called on the Syrian government to free all Palestinians and Syrians held behind prison bars, as the novel coronavirus COVID-19 continues to grip the Middle East and the world.
AGPS fears the coronavirus could spread quickly in jails and in overcrowded displacement camps, where neither hygiene kit nor medical equipment are accessible.
1,790 Palestinian refugees have fallen prey to enforced disappearance in jails across the embattled Syrian territories. Hundreds of families continue to appeal for information over the condition and whereabouts of their missing or secretly detained relatives in Syria.
A few days earlier, health officials in war-battered Syria have announced the first case of COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, as authorities in the country halted all public transportation in a bid to curb the spread of the virus.
Health Minister Nizar Yazji told a news conference in the capital Damascus on Sunday that “necessary measures”had been taken to ensure that the patient, a 20-year-old woman who had come from abroad, was quarantined for 14 days.
Earlier, the government shut down schools, parks, restaurants and various public institutions, and called off army conscription.
Syria’s healthcare system, among other infrastructure, has been ravaged by nine years of war.